A local painter whose artistic interests are wide-ranging will exhibit her work in February and March at PRAIRIE HOUSE CUSTOM FRAMES, 2833 S. Sixth St.

COLLEEN “COOKIE” FERRATIER will display mostly abstract paintings. However, she’ll also display other pieces such as landscapes and florals.

“I really like all media. Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of watercolor underneath and then pastel on top,” Ferratier said. “But I also do just watercolor, just pastel and acrylics — kind of a bunch of mix. …

“I’m kind of all over the place. I love all of it because I love color, and they’re all just such beautiful colors, and they’re all different. They do things differently on the paper.”

Ferratier said she doesn’t necessarily want to create a picture of something she sees. She wants it to be an interpretation.

“It might be abstract, but it might be semi-realistic, too. I like color, line, movement and design,” Ferratier said.

Ferratier had a childhood dream of becoming an artist, and now whenever she has the time, the first thing she does is paint.

She first started painting in watercolor.

“Then I went to a pastel class thinking that I was in a watercolor class, and I saw the pastels and just loved all the colors in the palette,” Ferratier said.

“Then I started doing pastels, and then I started mixing both of them. Pretty soon I was into acrylics, and I did have some Indian inks, too, that I’ll have in the show.”

An opening reception for the show at Prairie House Custom Frames will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Feb. 1.

Ferratier’s work is on her website at www.cferratier.com. Her work will be for sale during the exhibition at Prairie House. She’s also sold her work, which is displayed at Bank of Springfield, Chatham Area Public Library and Fluid Motion Chiropractic.